Location
University of Southampton

Supervisors: David Sear (UoS), Craig Lambert (UoS), Mark Bailey (University of East Anglia), Antony Firth (Historic England)

Contact email: D.Sear@soton.ac.uk

Project rationale

Globally soft coastlines represent major regions of population and biodiversity. They are under threat from rapid environmental and population growth. To date, understanding of the resilience both environmental and community systems are based on short, 150yr records. This research will combine long (600yr) sources of evidence found in documentary and sediment archives to fully understand how climate change – mediated via storm and surge driven flooding resulted in change to the physical, ecological and socio-economics and community response of soft coastal systems. The research will aim to develop and test novel data syntheses, and frameworks for integrating longer term information into narratives of coastal resilience and develop case studies to illustrate how these longer term perspectives can support future coastal resilience decision making.

The key study sites are located along historically one of the most dynamic soft coastlines in Europe in Suffolk, UK. The research aim is to develop a new and deeper understanding of the socio-ecological processes responsible for the evolution and adaptation of an estuary-dominated soft coastline that is very sensitive to future climate change. This requires quantification of the interplay between coastal processes, climate, and human response over longer timescales than are normally applied. This research will enable the long-term history of human adaptation to coastal flooding to inform and encourage current coastal communities in contemplating change, developing their own adaptation strategies, and discovering their own agency in the face of increased flooding.

Methodology

Existing interpretations of coastal change and community resilience are heavily influenced by paradigms based on observations drawn from the past 150 years. These in turn inform current coastal and heritage management plans, and influence the future investment and adaptation measures in response to changing climate. But the coast is a function of dynamic natural and human interactions over longer timescales.

To understand these the student will adopt a cross-disciplinary approach nested within a robust coastal resilience framework, drawing together

  1. historical documentary evidence and analysis to reconstruct the chronology of reclamation and inundation, and to chart it against key economic and institutional drivers;
  2. targeted palaeoenvironmental reconstruction of changes in floodplain and estuarine sedimentation rates, sediment sources and landuse; 
  3. informed by geospatial modelling across a range of data sources. Together, these will allow the first comprehensive assessment of the processes driving changes in coastal resilience to flood hazard and landscape change over five centuries, which can then
  4. be translated into advice relevant to coastal stewardship and public policy. We will focus on two major case study areas on the Suffolk coast – one a suite of rural settlements (Easton Bavents/Covehithe) and one a major urban coastal port (Dunwich).

Background reading

Bailey, M., Wain, P., Sear, D. (2021) ‘The transformation of the Suffolk coastline c.1200 to c.1600: from Orford Ness to Goseford’, Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History.

Sear, D.A., Murdock, A., Baggaley, P., Le Bas, T.P., Gubbins, G. (2013) Dunwich project 5883: final report (English Heritage).

Lambert, Craig; Ayton, Andrew (2012) The English mariner in the fourteenth century. In, Ormrod, Mark (ed.) Fourteenth Century England VII. (Fourteenth Century England) Woodbridge, GB. Boydell & Brewer, pp. 153–176.

FLOOD-CDT

This PhD is being advertised as part of the Centre for Doctoral Training for Resilient Flood Futures (FLOOD-CDT). Further details about FLOOD-CDT can be seen here https://flood-cdt.ac.uk. Please note, that your application will be assessed upon:

  1. Motivation and Career Aspirations;
  2. Potential & Intellectual Excellence;
  3. Suitability for specific project and
  4. Fit to FLOOD-CDT.

So please familiarise yourselves with FLOOD-CDT before applying. During the application process candidates will need to upload:

  • a one-page statement of your research interests in flooding and FLOOD-CDT and your rationale for your choice of project;
  • a curriculum vitae giving details of your academic record and stating your research interests;
  • name two current academic referees together with an institutional email addresses; on submission of your online application your referees will be automatically emailed requesting they send a reference to us directly by email;
  • academic transcripts and degree certificates (translated if not in English) – if you have completed both a BSc and an MSc, we require both; and
  • a IELTS/TOEFL certificate, if applicable.

Please upload all documents in PDF format. You are encouraged to contact potential supervisors by email to discuss project-specific aspects of the proposed prior to submitting your application. If you have any general questions please contact floodcdt@soton.ac.uk.

Apply

To apply for this project please click here: https://student-selfservice.soton.ac.uk/BNNRPROD/bzsksrch.P_Search. Tick programme type – Research, tick Full-time or Part-time, select Academic year – ‘2025/26, Faculty Environmental and Life Sciences’, search text – ‘PhD Ocean & Earth Science (FLOOD CDT)’.

In Section 2 of the application form you should insert the name of the project and supervisor(s) you are interested in applying for. If you have any problems please contact: fels-pgr-apply@soton.ac.uk.